Roxy Roo, Always in Our Hearts: A Tribute
We lost our beautiful Roxy on February 6, 2024. She had such a profound impact on our lives, so I decided to share her life story with all of you. We know her memory will always live on in our hearts and forever be an unbreakable thread tying our family together.
On May 1, 2011, my family was at a festival in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Our daughter Edyn was four, our sons Brady and Carter were seven and nine years old. We came across a booth with puppies for adoption, and with one look at this four-month-old shepherd collie mix with puffball eyebrows and unique features, we were hooked.
We had not yet discussed getting a dog for our family, nor were we prepared to bring one home, but we did. Within thirty minutes, we were calling family and friends for references, asking my sister-in-law to borrow her crate, and had made a very impulsive decision. The next thing we knew, Rosey (who we named Roxy) was in our back seat, and we were on our way home. This decision would positively impact our lives for the next thirteen years and forevermore.
Like all new families with a puppy, it was chaotic. Our daughter Edyn was initially terrified of Roxy, and we had no clue what we were doing. Roxy would bark all night in her crate, we were not even sure which room was the best for her. We did not even allow her to go up the stairs for a good year because we were fearful that she would poop in every room! We dealt with the usual potty-training trials and tribulations, and slowly but surely, she did it.
Over the next 13 years, Roxy was a part of our family. She waited outside every morning with her "cross paw" position for the bus to take the kids to elementary school. Of course, she would be waiting for their return each day as well.
Over the years, we have had thousands of pictures of Roxy and our kids as they grew up, always together and smiling, particularly on the first day of school. She loved to hike at Valley Green in Fairmont Park, outside of Philadelphia. I will never forget the first time we let her off leash; I was so nervous she would run away, but once my husband would blow a whistle with his fingers, she would come right back. She loved hiking with the family and riding in the car. She spent half of her life in my car, listening to music and sticking her head out the window. If she had the choice, she would have loved a cross-country trip!
Like many larger dogs, Roxy began to get arthritis. She underwent two ACL repairs and had two sarcomas removed over a four-year span. She began to slow down, and we stopped taking her for hikes. For eleven and a half years, Roxy came upstairs at night; we always could hear the thumping and knew when she arrived. She would jump onto the foot of our bed, turn around, and plop down with a sigh. She was so stubborn that she somehow made it up until her last 4 months of life, even if she had to come up one by one, and in the end, I had to lift her legs.
When we got Mae Mae and Malibu, two golden retriever puppies in April 2022, everything changed in our house. Roxy was amazing, not too bothered by these two fluffy dogs running around and creating chaos. The three of them quickly became siblings and best friends, and I think looking back, that having Mae extended Roxy’s life over the past two years. She also gave her companionship. (Malibu moved to Florida with our son, Brady when she was six months).
This blog is a celebration of Roxy’s life and how she changed us all. I do not wish to focus on her physical struggles over the last few months of her life, instead, on her legacy. We always said she was a "shepherd person." We felt, as so many people can relate, that she truly was one of us. She was the first hello when the boys returned from college, and the last goodbye when they left. After any vacation, on the way home, unanimously we would all get so excited to see Roo.
She loved to sit out front by the tree and in the backyard with her regal posture, with paws crossed. She loved the car, would do anything for food, especially the empty peanut butter jar. The boys had a bad habit of putting the cereal bowl on the floor when finished, so that happened. She loved her bones; she would get one every Friday to celebrate Shabbat. After getting her bone, we would watch her go outside and bury the bone in the mulch. Days later, Roxy would be at our back door, with a dirty, blackened bone in her mouth. She always knew where she hid those bones.
In 2021, Roxy became the inspiration for my inclusive book series. She continues to live on in my books, programs, and merchandise. Her perseverance through her surgeries was part of the inspiration to write two books about a dog who loses her leg, and through her journey, teaches others that "it’s okay to be different." Roxy’s books teach children about limb differences, empathy, inclusion, kindness, acceptance, and anti-bullying.
Her legacy will live on in the Adventures of Roxy, but more importantly, in all of our hearts. I realized at the end that her passing was the first time my children experienced a death in their lives. It was one of the most painful experiences for our family, but now that time has begun to heal these wounds, one of us can just say “Hi Roo!” and we all smile. Thank you, Roxy, for changing our lives. I hope her story will inspire other families to get a pet, for it is truly life-changing.
